Zoomington Stick Dance
| Zoomington Stick Dance | |
|---|---|
| Tradition | Zoomington (adapted from Ockington) |
| Hands | pool noodle |
| Set size | 4 |
| Tune | Drowsy Maggie |
| Musical sequence | ½A. (AB)5 A A(faster) A(fastest) |
| Notes | |
Choreography led by Jen during weekly practice on 9 Feb. 2021. Writeup by Lisa.
Border dance, aka single step sticking dance. Each musical phrase has 8 beats followed by 2 beats, so the chorus and each figure follow the pattern: 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 5 and 6 and 7 and 8 and bam bam bam pause. It’s usually a single step (SS) on every 1 and, 2 and, etc. On the bams, plant your feet and beat your stick three times right in front of you. In Zoom it helps to have a stool or something just out of screen that you can actually physically hit with your pool noodle. The dance is for four people in a square (or 8 or 12 or 16 people in 2, 3, or 4 squares). On the Zoom screen, the dancer in each square of 4 is numbered starting with 1 in the upper left square, then, going clockwise, 2 in upper right, 3 in lower right, and 4 in lower left.
Chorus
Progressive overhead smashes on every beat into the center where all four squares meet, starting with dancer 1 smashing on beat 1, dancer 2 on beat 2, 3 on 3, 4 on 4, back to 1 on 5, 2 on 6, 3 on 7, 4 on 8, then everybody hits straight out in front on the three bams. Then repeat the whole sequence again. Randall would tell you to start your swing early because your noodle should hit the center point exactly on the beat. But don’t start your swing until your neighbor has hit your noodle. In the real Ockington dance the motion is supposed to mimic swinging a pickaxe, I think.
Figures
- Rounds – The dance starts with this figure then moves to the chorus, next figure, chorus, etc. Over 8 SS, travel around in a medium size circle twice, clockwise over your right shoulder, then three bams. Repeat, still circling in the same direction.
- Back to Back – Standard Zoomington back to back, which is forward, side and back in a triangle shape, always facing the camera. This means SS up & left on beats 1 and 2, clash forehand in the corner on 3, SS right on 4, clash backhand on 5, and SS back to your starting point on beats 6-8, then bam bam bam. Repeat moving SS up & right, SS left, SS back, then bam bam bam.
- Baseball – SS forward on 1 & 2, SS turning over L shoulder on 3, jump & land on both feet in a wide leg squat on 4, jump & turn over L shoulder swinging your pool noodle like a bat landing on both feet facing forward on beat 5, SS back on beats 6, 7 & 8, then bam bam bam. Repeat, turning over L shoulder again.
- Inner Hey (lines, stars, and diamonds) all hold sticks vertical on 1, hold on 2, rotate 90 (left side clockwise, right side counter CW) to horizontal on 3, vertical on 5, horizontal on 7. Second half, hold diagonal to form diamond on 1, rotate 90 on 3 to a star, diamond on 5, star on 7.
- Outer Hey – The columns are going to mirror each other, so dancers 1 and 4 travel together in the same directions, and dancers 2 and 3 travel in the same directions opposite to the 1 and 4 dancers. Starting from the center of your box, on beat 1 & 2, take 2 SS left or right, into the center of the square of four. All should go far enough to seemingly disappear out of your box and into the middle of the square of four. All turn 180, then come back all the way across your box in 4 SS on beats 3, 4, 5 & 6, and disappear outside the square of four. All turn 180, and SS back to the center of your box on beats 7 & 8, then bam bam bam. Repeat, going in the opposite direction, so SS on beats 1 & 2 to disappear at the outside of the square of four, SS back across your box on beats 3, 4, 5 & 6 to disappear inside the square of four, SS back to the center of your box on beats 7 & 8, bam bam bam.
- Alternating spins (teacups) - On beat 1, positions 1 and 3 (first corner diagonals) clash the side of the screen at waist level (1 to left, 3 to right). Positions 2 and 4 put their sticks out to side and are "clashed" with by 1 and 3. 2 spins over left shoulder, 4 spins over right shoulder on beats 1,2 to clash the side of their screen on 3, clashing positions 1 and 3. 1 and 3 spin and clash 2 and 4 on beat 5, 2 and 4 spin to clash 1 and 3 on 7. 1 and 3 spin and all do the bam, bam, bam.
Last figure repeats 3 times getting faster each time.
Notes
Anything worth noting.
Music
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